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Ronnie Threadgill Texas Execution

Ronnie Threadgill was executed by the State of Texas for a murder during a carjacking. According to court documents Ronnie Threadgill was attempted to steal a vehicle when he shot and killed the driver 17-year-old Dexter McDonald.. Ronnie Threadgill would be convicted and sentenced to death.

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A North Texas man was executed Tuesday evening for fatally shooting a teenager during a carjacking outside a nightclub 12 years ago.

Ronnie Threadgill, 40, received lethal injection in Huntsville less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal.

“To my loved ones and my dear friends, I love y’all and appreciate y’all for being there,” Threadgill said. “I am going to a better place. To all the guys back on the row, keep your heads up, keep fighting. I’m ready. Let’s go.

He nodded to a female friend standing a few feet away behind a window, then smiled broadly, showing off a mouthful of gold teeth. As the lethal dose of pentabarbital began taking effect, he took several deep breaths, then began snoring loudly. Within a few seconds, the sounds stopped.

He was pronounced dead 25 minutes later, at 6:39 p.m. CDT. It was the third execution in Texas this year.

Attorneys for Threadgill unsuccessfully argued his case deserved court review because he had deficient legal help during his 2002 capital murder trial when he was sentenced to die for the killing of 17-year-old Dexter McDonald. The appeal argued he would not have received a death sentence if he had better legal representation, and asked that his case be returned to a lower court.

McDonald was sitting in the back seat of a friend’s idling car near Corsicana, about 60 miles south of Dallas, on April 15, 2001, when Threadgill started shooting then jumped inside the vehicle and drove off. He threw McDonald from the car; the teenager died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Threadgill, who already had a long criminal record, led officers on a chase along Interstate 45 through Navarro County. He lost control of the stolen car and slid into a ditch, then ran away. Police found him hiding at a truck stop, clinging to an axle under a parked semitrailer.

A bandana that witnesses said the carjacker was wearing was found stuffed under the truck trailer. Blood on Threadgill’s clothing matched McDonald’s blood. Threadgill’s fingerprints were found on the stolen car.

Rob Dunn, one of Threadgill’s trial attorneys, said the number of people who saw the attack left “no wiggle room” to convince jurors that someone else was responsible for the crime. He said his strategy had been to try to keep him off death row.

“There was a multitude of witnesses there at that club that had seen him there and then the shooting took place, and a multitude of witnesses watched him drag the deceased out of the car at the end of the block and throw him down,” Dunn said.

Prosecutors called nearly a dozen witnesses during the punishment phase to show Threadgill’s reputation for trouble. He already had felony convictions for cocaine possession and burglary and misdemeanor convictions for assault, resisting arrest, theft, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and marijuana possession. Three months before the fatal carjacking, Threadgill was released from a prison on mandatory supervision, a form of parole.

A clinical psychologist testifying for the defense showed Threadgill was chemically dependent and came from a family with a history of substance abuse. His mother testified that she was on parole for drug possession at the time.

Appeals lawyer Lydia Brandt argued to the Supreme Court that jurors weren’t given an accurate picture of Threadgill’s abusive and tumultuous childhood, nor were they told that his mother encouraged her children in criminal activity and that his mother, male relatives and his three siblings all had criminal records.

But state attorneys told the justices his legal help throughout had been proper and competent. His appeal with the punishment fast approaching was “nothing more than a meritless attempt to postpone his execution,” according to Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general.

At least 10 other Texas prisoners have executions scheduled in the coming months, including another inmate set to die next week.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-executes-convicted-killer-ronnie-threadgill-for-north-texas-carjack-slaying-12-years-ago

Rickey Lewis Texas Execution

Rickey Lewis was executed by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Rickey Lewis would break into a home where he would murder George Newman and would sexually assault his fiance. Rickey Lewis would be executed by lethal injection on April 9 2013

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A Texas convict with a lengthy criminal history was executed Tuesday evening for fatally shooting a man and raping the slain man’s fiancee during a home break-in more than 22 years ago.

Rickey Lewis already had been in and out of prison five times in less than seven years when he was arrested three days after the killing of 45-year-old George Newman and attack on Newman’s fiancee in 1990 at their home in a rural area of Smith County, about 90 miles east of Dallas.

Lewis, 50, acknowledged the rape, but not the killing.

“If I hadn’t raped you, you wouldn’t have lived,” he told Newman’s fiancee, Connie Hilton, in the moments before the single lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. “I didn’t kill Mr. Newman and I didn’t rob your house.

“I was just there. … I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through. It wasn’t me that harmed and stole all of your stuff,” he said to Hilton, who stood behind a glass window a few feet away. The Associated Press normally does not name rape victims, but Hilton, 63, agreed to be identified.

Rickey Lewis said the two people responsible for Newman’s killing are still alive. He didn’t identify them.

He told Hilton he watched her flee the house to get help. “When I saw you in the truck driving away, I could have killed you, but I didn’t,” he said. “I’m not a killer.”

Rickey Lewis thanked his friends who watched through a nearby window “for the love you gave me.”

“I thank the Lord for the man I am today. I have done all I can to better myself, to learn to read and write,” he said, appearing to choke back tears. “Take me to my king.”

As the drug began taking effect, he said he could feel it “burning my arm.”

“I feel it in my throat. I’m getting dizzy,” Lewis said before he started to snore and, seconds later, lost consciousness.

He was pronounced dead 14 minutes after the lethal dose began.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to review Lewis’ case and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously voted against a clemency request.

No last-day appeals were filed by his attorneys to try to halt the execution, the second this year in Texas.

Earlier appeals focused on whether Lewis, a ninth-grade dropout who worked as a laborer, was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty under Supreme Court rulings. The claims included a suggestion from Lewis’ attorneys that the court reconsider a denial it made in his case in 2005. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused that recommendation on Monday.

Hilton declined to speak with reporters after the execution. In a first-person account she wrote of the attack, she said she got out of bed the night of Sept. 17, 1990, after her barking dog woke her and saw a man in the hallway with a shotgun.

She screamed, and Newman responded and was shot in the face. A dog in the home was also killed.

Hilton tried hiding in a bathroom, was struck at least twice in the head and then assaulted for over an hour by Lewis while the other two people Lewis claims were there stole items from the house.

She testified she was ordered to “quit whimpering,” felt a gun barrel on her and was told someone would find her in the morning.

According to court documents, she was left in the kitchen with her hands and feet bound. As Lewis and his partners fled in her truck, she managed to free herself, crawled to Newman to find him dead and then climbed out a window to seek help.

Lewis was arrested three days later after he was seen with some of the items stolen from the house. DNA evidence linked him to the attack.

“There’s still a lot of fear in the back of my mind because the other two men never were caught,” Hilton told the AP last week. “You never know if there’s going to be retaliation.

“He’s never told anyone and as far as I’m aware of, nobody knows. On the other hand, if he were to tell who was with him, that would confirm his guilt, and he’s not going to do that.”

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1996 upheld Lewis’ conviction but reversed his death sentence, finding jurors had faulty instructions when considering his sentence. At a new punishment trial the following year, Lewis again was sentenced to die.

Lewis’ mother, who has since died, testified a 10-year-old Lewis shot his father to protect her. Testimony indicated Lewis’ father had abused him as a child.

Records showed Lewis first went to prison in 1983 for burglary, was paroled and returned to prison as a parole violator. He continued to be a repeat offender and parole violator. His arrest on capital murder charges for Newman’s slaying came six months after his most recent release.

Evidence showed two months before the Newman shooting he stole a truck and led police on a chase. Then four days before the attack, Lewis used a sawed-off shotgun during a store robbery in Tyler.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/04/09/texas-executes-man-for-1990-fatal-shooting-rape/

Rick Rhoades Texas Execution

Rick Rhoades was executed by the State of Texas for a double murder committed thirty years ago. According to court documents Rick Rhoades would force his way into a home and would murder Charles Allen, 31, and Bradley Allen, 33. Rick Rhoades had just been released from jail when the murders took place. Rick Rhoades would be convicted and sentenced to death. Rick Rhoades would be executed on September 27 2021 by lethal injection

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A Texas inmate was executed Tuesday evening for fatally stabbing two Houston-area brothers during a robbery in their home more than 30 years ago.

Rick Rhoades, 57, was executed by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the September 1991 killings of Charles Allen, 31, and Bradley Allen, 33. The brothers were killed less than a day after Rhoades had been released on parole after serving a sentence for burglary.

Rhoades, strapped to the death chamber gurney, turned his head and looked briefly at relatives of his victims as they walked to a window in a witness area a few feet from him. Asked by the warden to make a final statement, he declined.

Then as the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began flowing through needles in each of his arms, Rhoades took several deep breaths, gurgled twice and began snoring, each breath becoming less pronounced. Within about a minute, all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. CDT, 17 minutes after the lethal injection began.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to delay Rhoades’ execution over claims his constitutional right to due process was being violated because he was being prevented from pursuing allegations that some potential jurors at his trial might have been dismissed for racially discriminatory reasons.

“We hope the Allen family finds peace after nearly 30 years of waiting for justice for their loved ones,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who attended the execution, said in a statement.

“The death penalty should be reserved for the worst of the worst, and a Harris County jury determined long ago that this defendant fits the bill. Let us honor the memory of the victims, Charles and Bradley Allen, and never forget that our focus has and always will be on the victims.”

Marley Allen Holt, Bradley Allen’s daughter who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and who was born during Rhoades’ trial, said she attended Tuesday’s punishment because Rhoades watched her father die and “I wanted to watch him die.”

“It’s a weird feeling,” Kevin Allen, whose two brothers were slain, said after witnessing the execution. “I can’t really describe what it’s like. It’s the most solemn thing I think I’ve ever been part of, if that’s the word that’s even appropriate.”

In July, Rhoades’ attorneys had filed a federal lawsuit against state District Judge Ana Martinez in Houston over a request they had made that the judge order prosecutors to release information related to allegations some jurors were dismissed based on racial discrimination.

Martinez ruled she lacked jurisdiction to consider the request. The suit was dismissed earlier this month by a Houston federal judge, who also declined to stay the execution. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld the suit’s dismissal and also declined to stay the execution. The appeals court in 2019 had previously denied a similar claim by Rhoades’ attorneys on allegations that two Black jurors were dismissed due to racial bias. Rhoades is white.

Rhoades’ attorneys had previously unsuccessfully argued in other appeals: that his constitutional rights were violated when childhood photos depicting Rhoades in normal, happy activities and designed to show he was nonviolent and would do well in prison were excluded during his trial’s punishment phase; that a state investigator gave false testimony at his trial over whether Rhoades could receive an unaccompanied furlough if sentenced to life in prison; and that “evolving standards of decency” prohibit executions as a punishment for murder.

“A 2020 Gallup poll on Americans’ attitudes regarding capital punishment shows that public support for the death penalty is at its lowest in a half-century, with opposition higher than any time since 1996,” David Dow and Jeffrey Newberry wrote in a court motion last month.

Rhoades had a long criminal history, including convictions for burglary and auto theft in Florida, Iowa and Texas, when he broke into Charles Allen’s house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

The home, located near where the siblings’ parents lived, had just been custom built for Charles Allen and he had invited his brother to temporarily live with him. The two brothers had recently gone through separate divorces.

Charles Allen, who played the piano and had dreams of a musical career, worked as a chemical operator at a local refinery. Bradley Allen worked as a freelance artist.

At trial, prosecutors told jurors the siblings were asleep when Rhoades broke into their home in the early morning hours and attacked Charles Allen as he was in his bed. Bradley Allen was killed when he came to his brother’s defense.

An arrest in the case wasn’t made until about a month later when Rhoades was caught burglarizing an elementary school. While in custody, Rhoades confessed to killing the brothers. But he claimed it was done in self-defense after exchanging words with Charles Allen as Rhoades took a walk at 2:30 a.m.

“I was tired of running. I wanted to tell what happened,” Rhoades said in his confession.

Rhoades was the third inmate put to death this year in Texas and the sixth in the U.S. Four more executions are scheduled for later this year in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.

https://news.yahoo.com/texas-inmate-faces-execution-fatally-034554397.html

Rick Rhoades Execution Videos

Carl Blue Texas Execution

Carl Blue was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of his ex girlfriend in 1994. According to court documents Carl Blue would douse his ex girlfriend with gasoline and set her on fire. The woman would die from her injuries. Carl Blue would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Carl Blue would be executed by lethal injection on February 21, 2013

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On Aug. 19, 1994, Carl Blue stood outside the College Station apartment of his former girlfriend, Carmen Richards-Sanders, holding a cup of gasoline. When she opened the door to leave for work, Blue tossed the liquid onto her, flicked his lighter, and set her afire. When Lawrence Williams, who was also in the apartment, tried to come to her aid, Blue allegedly doused and set him ablaze too. Williams survived, but Richards-Sanders died in the hospital two and a half weeks later. Blue was convicted of the crime and sentenced to die.

Unless his final appeals are successful, Blue will be the first person executed in Texas in 2013 when he is taken to the death chamber on Feb. 21. He would be the 493rd inmate sent to death in Texas since reinstatement of the death penalty, and the 253rd to die under the watch of Gov. Rick Perry.

Blue was first convicted in 1995, but his death sentence was overturned by an appeals court, which ruled that a state witness improperly testified that because Blue is black he is more likely to be dangerous in the future. Although Blue was given a new sentencing hearing and again sentenced to die in 2001, questions still remain about whether his punishment fit the crime. At issue now is whether the court-appointed attorney who represented him in that retrial was ineffective, in part for failing to present evidence related to Blue’s troubled background and mental impairments. To wit: Blue was born prematurely to a 13-year-old mother in a severely impoverished family; at birth he weighed less than 3 pounds. Because he was born at home in a two-room shack shared by 22 people, the family could not afford to take him to the doctor; they warmed him in an oven for a week before taking him to the emergency room. He remained there in an incubator for two months, but even then weighed only 5 pounds, according to an appeal filed Jan. 22 in Brazos County by his current lawyer, Michael Charlton. Blue’s premature birth and seriously low birth weight make it more likely that he would suffer from hypoxic brain injury. Furthermore, Blue only functions at the level of a third-grader – he can barely read or write – and was bullied and abused as a child. Yet none of these issues were raised – mitigating factors that Charlton argues might have persuaded jurors to spare his life.

Moreover, Charlton argues that an ineffective assistance of counsel claim was never before raised because the same attorney, John Wright, represented Blue both at trial and on appeal. “Clearly … Mr. Wright had a conflict of interest that materially and adversely affected the representation of Mr. Blue,” Charlton wrote.

Whether the court will grant a stay in order to consider whether Wright was ineffective remains to be seen. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the failure to raise an ineffective assistance claim in an initial appeal does not necessarily preclude a later appellate review. If the Brazos County court rejects the appeal, it will be up to the Supremes to decide whether to stay Blue’s date with death.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2013-02-15/man-who-functions-at-third-grade-level-sentenced-to-die/

Miguel Paredes Texas Execution

Miguel Paredes was executed by the State of Texas for a triple murder that took place in 2000. According to court documents Miguel Paredes and two accomplices would go over to a home to collect drug money and in the end would shoot and kill three residents in the home. The deceased were brought to a remote field and set on fire. Miguel Paredes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Miguel Paredes would be executed by lethal injection on October 28 2014

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A former gang member was put to death Tuesday evening for the fatal shootings of three rivals 14 years ago in San Antonio.

Miguel Paredes, 32, was convicted along with two other men in the September 2000 slayings of three people with ties to the Mexican Mafia. The victims’ bodies were rolled up in a carpet, driven about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest, dumped and set on fire. A farmer investigating a grass fire found the remains.

Paredes was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m. CDT, 22 minutes after being injected with a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. The execution was delayed slightly to ensure the IV lines were functioning properly, said Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. The procedure calls for two working lines.

Normally needles are placed in the crease of an inmate’s arms near the elbows, but in Paredes’ case, prison officials inserted IV lines into his hands.

As witnesses entered the death chamber in Huntsville, Paredes smiled and mouthed several kisses to four friends watching through a window and repeatedly told them he loved them. He told everyone gathered that he hoped his victims’ family members would “let go of all of the hate because of all my actions.”

“I came in as a lion and I come as peaceful as a lamb,” Paredes said. “I’m at peace. I hope society sees who else they are hurting with this.”

He showed no signs of discomfort. As the drugs began taking effect, he took several deep breaths while praying at the same time. He started to snore and eventually stopped.

The execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a last-day appeal from attorneys who contended Paredes was mentally impaired and his previous lawyers were deficient for not investigating his mental history.

His was the 10th lethal injection this year in Texas, the nation’s most active death-penalty state. One other Texas inmate is set to die in December and at least nine are scheduled for execution in early 2015, including four in January.

Prosecutors said Paredes was the most aggressive shooter when Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27, showed up to collect drug money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes’ gang.

Defense attorneys argued that Paredes, who turned 18 six weeks before the slayings, grew up in a neighborhood where the only way to survive was to join a gang.

No friends or relatives of the three victims attended Paredes’ execution. Cain’s family said in a statement afterward that Cain was “no longer with us for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Our family has waited 14 years for justice to finally be served,” the statement said.

Paperwork carrying Saenz’s name was found in the debris with the victims’ bodies, which helped police solve the case. Saenz, 32, claimed self-defense at his trial and avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The third man convicted in the killings, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and also is serving life in prison.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/28/texas-execution-gang-member/18092381/